Course Objectives:  Introduction to the foundations of how we hear auditory events, such as speech, music, and other forms of communication. The psychology of auditory cognition addresses basic psychological theories of how people hear, remember, and produce sound.  

Content: The course covers the fundamentals of listeners’ response to sound and higher-level mental principles including perception, attention, memory, motor control, production, and emotion. The course is divided into 3 main units: 1) sensation and perceptual organization of sound; 2) speech and language perception/production; and 3) perception/production of music and other auditory events. Topics include: musical acoustics, auditory memory, speaker identity, prosody, neuropsychology of sound,  developmental perception of sound, and emotional response.

Readings: Required readings from Steven Handel’s (1989) Listening: An introduction to the perception of auditory events, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, and Al Bregman’s (1990) Auditory Scene Analysis, Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, are available in a coursepack at the McGill bookstore. Other required readings will be made available; check the course website for details. All readings should be completed BEFORE the dates listed below, in order to maximize understanding and enjoyment of the lectures. The lectures include material not covered in the readings.  

Method and evaluation: Three hours of lecture per week. The course will be lecture format. Grades will be based on 2 in-class exams that each cover one unit of the course: 35% on the first exam, 35% on the second exam, and 30% on homework assignments.     

Course Web Site: www.mcgill.ca/webct contains essential information for Psych 329 on course schedule, lecture notes, assignments, FAQs, and exam information. 

Academic Integrity: McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore, all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see McGill’s academic integrity web site, www.mcgill.ca/integrity). Every student registered in PSYC 329 is obliged to read the statement about academic integrity, and we will assume that you have done so.

                                                                                                                               Last update: August 1, 2011